Sadly, their passion for pooches has to stay online because neither actress is allowed to bring pets on the Paramount lot, where they spend 16 hours a day filming Community.

"I won't get one until I'm able to have a job where either I can bring the dog with me to work or be home more," says Brown. "I wouldn't want a dog waiting for me to come home. Gillian and I both know [having a dog is] an impossibility right now."

Even so, canines have wriggled their way into Brown's work life. She's voicing a dog in the Hub animated seriesPound Puppies, which began airing new episodes Aug. 13.

"By the end of every episode, a dog in need is placed in a home," she says. "So I like to believe that the kids watching the show, it'll be put in their minds, 'If I ever get a dog, I want to go to a shelter.' I just think it's a beautiful thing."

It's less of a beautiful thing to know how the actress and her costars, including Eric McCormack and Michael Rapaport, get into the canine frame of mind. "There's never an episode where we don't get to bark, growl, whimper," Brown says. "It's really ridiculous to see grown people growling and whimpering like dogs, but we know our dogginess. So we can tap into it whenever we need to."